Help pupils recognise and use the ‘ck’ digraph with our ck phonics resources for Reception. These worksheets, games and practical activities support pupils in connecting ‘ck’ with the /k/ phoneme and applying this knowledge when blending and segmenting simple words.
Use the resources to introduce ‘ck’, consolidate learning or provide extra practice with reading and spelling words containing the digraph. Browse more Phase 2 phonics resources, or visit our main phonics resources page for teaching materials covering Phases 1 to 5.
In Phase 2 phonics, pupils are introduced to the digraph ‘ck’, in which two letters work together to represent one phoneme: /k/. It can be seen at the end of simple words such as kick, sock and pack.
Recognising ‘ck’ as a digraph is important when pupils blend and segment words. Although they can see two letters, ‘ck’ represents a single phoneme, so pupils need to learn to treat the two letters as one grapheme when reading and spelling.
Our ck phonics activities provide opportunities to revisit the digraph in different contexts and build confidence using it. Resources can help pupils to:
Use the activities as part of whole-class phonics lessons, adult-led group work, independent practice or additional phonics support. They can be selected to complement your school’s systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Once pupils recognise ‘ck’, they can begin applying it when reading words such as kick, sock, pack and pick. Encourage pupils to identify ‘ck’ as one grapheme representing /k/ before blending the phonemes together to read the whole word.
When spelling, phoneme frames and word-building activities can help pupils understand that the final /k/ phoneme in these words is represented by the two-letter grapheme ‘ck’. This helps develop the connection between the phonemes pupils hear and the graphemes they need to write.
A digraph is a grapheme made up of two letters that represent one phoneme. In ‘ck’, the letters ‘c’ and ‘k’ appear together but represent a single /k/ phoneme. Helping pupils recognise digraphs as a single unit supports accurate blending and segmenting as they encounter more two-letter graphemes in phonics.
Continue building pupils’ early phonics knowledge with our full collection of Phase 2 phonics resources. For worksheets, games, lesson presentations and practical activities covering the wider phonics sequence, explore our main phonics resources page.
The ‘ck’ digraph represents the /k/ phoneme. It is commonly found at the end of simple words such as kick, sock and pack.
The letters ‘c’ and ‘k’ form one grapheme when they appear together as ‘ck’. The digraph represents a single /k/ phoneme, rather than two separate phonemes.
Depending on the graphemes they have already been taught, pupils can practise words such as kick, pick, pack and sock. Reading and spelling practice should use words containing grapheme–phoneme correspondences that pupils already know.
